Real estate agents are often perceived as overpaid paper pushers, but the profession's reputation crisis is partly self-inflicted, according to Courtney Poulos, founder and broker-owner of ACME | SERHANT. in Los Angeles and a member of the SERHANT. CA founding team. Poulos, who is completing Harvard University's Advanced Management Development Program (AMDP) at the Graduate School of Design, says the industry suffers from what she calls a 'mirror problem'—a disconnect between how agents see themselves and how they are perceived by the public.
'A lot of people see real estate agents as overpaid paper pushers who don’t earn what they make,' Poulos said. 'And while the class action lawsuits and the public relations battles are largely driven by forces outside agent control, the way we show up, how we communicate, how we position ourselves, that is on us.'
Poulos highlights a recent incident where a client chose to rent rather than sell and attempted to negotiate her commission below the marketing costs already incurred. 'That is the level of disrespect I am talking about,' she said, underscoring the degradation of perceived value even at senior levels.
The key to changing the narrative, according to Poulos, lies in messaging. Inspired by a session with communication expert Carmine Gallo during her Harvard program, she advocates for audience-centric communication that explains what agents actually do: data analysis, risk management, negotiation, and client advocacy. 'Real estate agents fall into the trap of marketing to each other,' Poulos said. 'We post about our sales for other agents to see. We compete on metrics that our clients don’t actually care about. And we miss the opportunity to explain, in plain terms, what we actually do and why it matters.'
To address this, Poulos is developing workshops and seminars, with the first session launching in Orlando this week. The initiative aims to help agents build effective messaging for clients, press, and regulators, and to rebuild public trust. 'If what we can clarify for the public is that we are not overpaid, that we are experts, and that our public relations battles are not actually about whether we deserve to be paid, then we start to reverse the narrative,' she said. 'And the housing market is a place where there is a lot of good stuff going on, despite the headlines. It is the moment for something optimistic.'
Poulos, whose brokerage ACME was founded in 2011 and recently became ACME | SERHANT. under the umbrella of Ryan Serhant's national firm, believes that real estate agents must start seeing themselves as senior-level executives. 'The only thing that is really missing is real estate agents considering themselves as senior-level executives in a business,' she said. 'We are not taken as seriously as we ought to be, like a lawyer.'
